The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-02-04
THE MYSTERIOUS NAME.
SPOKEN ONLY IN THE TEMPLE,
BY THE HIGH PRIEST ALONE.

BY THE HIGH PRIEST ALONE.
The Peculiar Interest Always Eyinced
by Scholars and Antiquarians In the
Sacred and Mysterious Name of God.
The Pronunciation Lost.
Once each year, on the Day of Atone
ment, while the Jewish temple at Jerusa-
lem remained, the high priest was accus-
toned To pronounce upon the bowed and
awe stricken multitude of worshipers the
| blessing which contained the mysteri-
Gus name of God On no other occasion,
and from the lips Of no other person, could
| this name be spoken, and when the sacred
city fell before the Roman armies, and
| the temple itself was razed TO the ground,
the ceremony likewise persisted and the
| name was lost.
A peculiar interest in this extraordinary
| name has always been evinced by scholars
and antiquarians There is something in
| the mystery that surrounds it, that APP
peals alike to the strict religionist and TO
the investigator whose only motive is the
desire to explore the region Of the obsure.
What was this name that could not even
be pronounced without blasphemy, and
which has in consequence passed away
| from the knowledge of mankindf
AS is well known, the consonants of the
name are JHVH or YHVH; and since the
| time of the Hebraist Galatians she popu-
| lar usage has been to pronounce It Jeho-
| vah following the example of that scholar.
| Yet no one believes this to be in any way
correct, and the ingenuity of hundreds of
commentators has been taxed to restore
| the original vowels The name itself,
however it was primarily pronounced, is
| one Of marvellous antiquity. 1t is derived
| from verb, but was almost forgotten in
the time of Moses, and its origin is abso-
| lutely lost in the mists of an antiquity
that makes the pyramids seem insuffer-
| ably modern.
TOO SACRED TO BE SPOKEN.
It was the essentially national name
| given to the Creator by the Jews-the
name by which they thought of Him in
the privacy of their own homes, in the
presence of their own altars-too sacred to
be spoken, save once each year, and by
| the lips of the consecrated priest of the
Most High. So hedged about was it with
| reverence that the Rabbins did not even
dare to write about it, but allude to 1t
mysteriously as 1.-The Name" or ''Tbe
| Name of Four Letters" in which the
Samaritans likewise follow them. Yet,
| although it seems so wholly Jewish, some
/ of the most singular condolences are to be
found in the usage of other ancient
| languages. In the Chinese, some thou
sand years before Christ, there are allu-
sions to 'tname of three mystical letters,
"IHV," denoting that which none can
comprehend. Among the Phenicians the
name had equal reverence; the Greek
writers speak Of the ''great name" which
they imperfectly give as IEUO or LAO;
| and an inscription in the adytum by the
temple of Isis at the Egyptian sails recalls
the same dread tetragrammation. II
would seem almost as though this were
the title by which primeval man was
divinely taught to worship his creator.
| AS has been said, the name, SO far as
can be learned, has never been pro-
nounced since Titus destroyed the temple
! at Jerusalem in A. d. 20. Whether be-
| fore that time it was ever In any way
| fully committed to writing is quite un-
/ known. Some Of the rabbins who are I'M
ahla To deny that the recorded miracles OF
Christ were actually --wrought, declare
that he accomplished them by accidentally
| gaining possession of q parchment in
which ''The Name was fully written,
and which thus conferred upon its owner
extraordinary and supernatural powers.
THE SECRET WHOLLY LOST.
| Whether previously written or not, &c
must have been so recorded after Jerusa-
lem fell, for we learn of individuals who
| preserved the true pronunciation for many
centuries. Josephus, in his Antiquities, I"
| speaks of the name, but says that It would
| be unlawful for him to explain It. The
| Jewish Mishna speaks of Jew named
Kamzar who was aware of the sound of
the letters. In fact, as late as the year
1850 the oriental Leusden met Jew at
Amsterdam who professed to be able to
utter them correctly. His family, he
said, had preserved the traditional pro-
nunciation by means of writing Leus-
den offered the man = large sum Of money
If he would utter the word just once and
his offer was accepted; but shortly after,
and before the payment had been made,
so great a terror seized upon him as to
seal his lips, nor could he be persuaded
either by brides or entreaties to perform
his promise.
| The secret, therefore, must be regarded
as wholly lost; nor, perhaps, would spirit
| of reverence desire It to be discovered,
though even the most orthodox Christians
| regard the Jewish feeling about the name
as nothing better than superstition.
Whatever one may think, the mystery
that surrounds the whole subject appeals
very strongly to the imagination, as is
seen in the melancholy end of well
known American scholar, who devoted his
whole life to an investigation of the name,
and upon whose mind the question wrought
| SO strongly as to produce insanity.
1t may be of interest TO give the various
| recommendations that different scholars have
considered the most probable. Capped
would have it Yahvoh; Furst, Yeheveh;
Mercer, Ychveh, and Wright, Yahaveh;
but perhaps the majority of Orientalists
incline to Yahveh. In reading the Hebrew
Scriptures the Jews themselves never pro-
| nounce the word at all, but substitute the
ordinary Adonai, or Lord. Home Jour-
| nal